In August, I led off the Three Questions part of the Marquette volleyball season preview with “Who’s doing what around here, anyway?” as the first question. Pretty much everything was up for grabs in Tom Mendoza’s second season in charge, although it seemed pretty likely that 2025 MAC Player of the Year Carson Tyler would have at least a decently sized role. Along the way, Kiera Schmidt went from the most reliable returning player on the roster to appearing in just 19 of 26 matches and just 49 of 97
sets. Emma Parks was the only returning outside hitting option of note, and she only logged 70 sets in 23 matches, ultimately only starting twice for the Golden Eagles, which is actually less than Schmidt started. Even the most likely answers to the questions in front of Mendoza ended up being anything but reliable as the season went along.
And yet.
On Saturday, Emma Parks was the one dropping the kills for the last three points of Marquette’s 3-0 (25-15, 25-22, 25-23) sweep of St. John’s that moved the Golden Eagles to 14-2 in Big East play. With the win, Marquette has clinched at least a share of the 2026 Big East regular season title, which is the fifth Big East title in program history.
They won’t know if they’re the outright champs and the #1 seed in the conference tournament next weekend in Omaha until after Sunday night’s regular season finale between Creighton and Villanova. If Creighton wins, it’s a tie for the title and the Bluejays are the #1 seed. If the Wildcats prevail, they will play the role of spoiler since they’re already eliminated from the conference tournament and thus MU will be the outright champs and #1 seed.
Marquette didn’t have to just get through St. John’s this weekend. It was a two match homestand to end the year, and before getting to the Red Storm on Saturday, Marquette had to beat Seton Hall on Friday to set themselves up with a chance to clinch the title. MU did this with not a whole lot of difficulty, sweeping the Pirates with scores of 25-11, 25-21, and 25-16. The first set was over quickly with Marquette jumping out to a 15-5 lead right away. The second set was a bit of a process with Seton Hall going up 9-4 in the early going. Marquette tied it up at 10, but they didn’t take the lead for good until a 5-0 run that flipped the game from 15-13 Pirates to 18-15 Marquette. Even then, Seton Hall was within one at 20-19 and two at 23-21 before a service error from Alondra Villanueva and a kill from Molly Welge put the Golden Eagles up 2-0. The third set went back to much more straight forward winning from the home team as they got out to an 8-1 lead right away. The closest that SHU would get was four points and the Golden Eagles just kept stretching out the lead before Tom Mendoza emptied his bench leading to Caydence Doolan getting the match winning kill.
It was a dominant performance from Carson Tyler, putting up 19 kills on .486 hitting and adding 10 digs to get her to a double double and nudge her a little bit closer to picking up a Big East Player of the Year trophy. Luanna Markus had 32 assists to lead Marquette there, while Emi Juric scored 18 digs to keep her season set average on the impressive side.
How about some highlights, courtesy of GoMarquette.com and ESPN+?
Given the differences in records between the two opponents, it’s not surprising that St. John’s was a little bit more difficult to get through for Marquette. That, and the extra level of the Red Storm got swept by DePaul on Friday night and thus needed to win on Saturday to get into the conference tournament. All of that makes it more impressive that MU was up 6-0 out of the gate and St. John’s was calling timeout and Gasolina was blaring in the McGuire Center. The lead hit 10 at 18-8, and a block by Julia Stanev and Emma Parks put Marquette up 1-0.
In the second set, St. John’s stood in Marquette’s way for a good long while. The Red Storm weren’t pulling away, but they weren’t going away, either. After a 13-13 tie, Marquette scored the next three and seven of the next nine to get out to a 20-15 lead thanks to a block by Luanna Markus and Julia Stanev. The Johnnies fended off set point twice here to get within two, but Emma Parks closed down the store for the 2-0 lead.
Either Marquette faded in the third set or St. John’s cranked up their desperation. It was close until St. John’s got five straight for a 15-11 lead. Marquette was getting it within two, then got to one, and then Carson Tyler whiffed on a serve. 20-18 Red Storm and ever so slightly, there was some reasonable doubt as to whether this was ending in three sets or going to four.
Kill by Parks, block by Tani Juric, block by Parks & Molly Welge, misfire by the Johnnies, kill by Parks.
23-20 Marquette.
Another kill from Parks moved MU to set, match, and championship point. The Red Storm got a kill from Carola Tesoro, their top attacker to prolong things, but once again, Parks delivered for the win.
That last swing gave Parks 11 kills on .440 hitting in this match, but it was Carson Tyler with the team lead with 17 kills on .400 hitting. Luanna Markus had 35 assists in just three sets, and Emi Juric held up her end of things with 18 digs to lead the way there.
How about some highlights, courtesy of GoMarquette.com and ESPN+?
Up Next: We know Marquette is in the Big East tournament, so their next match is definitely in the semifinals in Omaha on Saturday, November 21st. We know that it’ll either be DePaul or Xavier as the opposition and those two are locked in as the #3 and #4 seed respectively. We won’t know if Marquette is the #1 or the #2 until after Creighton ends their regular season on Sunday evening at home against Villanova.
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